REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE 34TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR 1 27TH NOVEMBER 2023

REFLECTION/HOMILY FOR MONDAY OF THE 34TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME YEAR 1 27TH NOVEMBER 2023

Daniel 1:1-6, 8-20; Daniel 3; Luke 21:1-4

The Sacrifice of the Poor

In today’s gospel, Jesus evaluated the offerings of the people. His criteria for evaluation is very much different from that of men. Jesus is not concerned about the size of the offering but the intention of the giver. It is the giver’s intention that gives meaning to the offering; size can be deceptive. The poor widow is said to have given more because out of her poverty, she put in all the living that she had. What an act of great love!

Her offering was more sacrificial than that of the rich who gave more in quantity but less in percentage. Since she made more sacrifice, she actually loved more. It is the greatness of her love that Jesus actually commended. It is not the case that size of our offering does not matter. When love is our motivating force, size becomes secondary. If this poor widow had more, she would have given more.

One lesson we must learn here is to pay attention to the sacrifice of the poor. We will be failing in our pastoral ministry if we are carried away by the big offerings and donations of the rich without appreciating the sincere effort of the poor. Most times, it is the poor that creates time for church programs; they are the ones who often take out time to clean inside and outside the Church premises; they are ready to identify with the parish (with their physical presence) for any outdoor functions.

The pastoral life of the parish community will not be so alive without this common, consistent and all-important sacrifices of the poor. Hardly will you hear a poor man say that he will no longer come to Church because he is angry with the Priest or a fellow parishioner. He understands that he has come to serve God not man.

Jesus calls us to be poor in spirit; that is, to practice detachment from worldly things. Being rich is not an offense but not being able to give up ourselves for the sake of the gospel is a matter of concern. The lesson for us all here is that we must love God above all things. God First!